Safety appliance for elevators.



J. A. BUTKUS.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION TILED MAR. 8, 1913. 1,084,726.

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J. A. BUTKUS.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, 1913.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

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E EAL W n' o 3 mm [Wu e Imwmom anew/19 JOHN A. BUTKUS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR ELEVATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914.

Application filed March 8, 1913. Serial No. 752,912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. BUTKUS, of the city of Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Safety Appliances for Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

To understand the nature of the present invention, it must be borne in mind that in factories and other places using what are termed freight elevators, it frequently happens that the platform has to be stationed at a floor for a considerable time to admit of the loading or unloading of the same; and unless some means are provided to prevent it, persons on other floors wishing to use the elevator can, through the medium of the controller rope, start the platform in either an upward or a downward direction, thus interfering with the work under way. and in some cases causing accidents.

To prevent accidents, and the interruption of work in the manner above stated, the present invention consists in hand operated locking devices which are situated in the elevator shaft, and accessible at each floor thereof, within reach of the operator when the platform is in horizontal alinement with a floor.

It also consists in means whereby the factthat the platform is locked can be ascertained from any floor, by effecting a limited movement of the controller rope, or one not sufficient to effect the starting of the platform in either an upward or a downward direction, as will hereinafter fully appear.

In the description of the said invention which follows, reference is made to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and in whicha Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a building, illustrating the position of the apparatus forming the subject. of the present invention with respect to the floors of the same. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the safety appliance as seen from the same point of View as is Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 except that the front portion of the apparatus is removed. Fig. 4 is a view of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated in that figure by the arrow. Fig. 5 is an underside view of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawings, 1, 1 are floors of the building, and 2 is the casing of the elevator opening or shaft.

8, 3 are vertical guides for the elevator platform 4; and 6 is the hoisting rope.

5 is the controller rope whereby the elevator platform is placed in motion, and 9, 9 are hand grips on the rope, situated at a convenient elevation above each floor of the building; l0, 10 are fixed blocks to which the locking apparatus is secured.

12 is a hinge composed of the pivoted leaves a and 7), with the leaf (0 screwed to the block 10, and the one 6 free. The hinge is provided with a spring a fastened to the leaf 7), and on the pintle (Z is a square block 6 which in connection with the spring serves to yieldingly hold the movable leaf 7) either practically closed against the leaf (1, or extended and at a right angle therewith. On the back of the leaf Z) of the hinge, is a yoke l-it having forked ends 7 adapted, when the said leaf is closed upon the leaf (4 to partially encircle the controller rope 5, as shown in the drawings; and as the distance between the forked ends of the yoke is greater than the length of the grips 9, the controller rope when cooperating with the yoke, and the grip is central thereof, the grip is susceptible to a limited up-an(ldowu movement which is availed of to effect the sounding of a signal bell or gong 20, as hereinafter described. To admit of a limited up-anddown movement of the yoke 14 indepcnd ently of the hinge for the purpose of sounding the hell, it is attached to the leaf 7) of the hinge by means of screws 9 which pass through slots h in the said leaf; and to retain the yoke yieldingly in a central position with respect to the hinge, it is provided with the notches 2' into which extend the ends of the duplex spring 15 which is held to the leaf 7) by means of screws 7'. The upper and lower edges of the leaf Z) of the hinge are provided with insulated metallic spring plates 7c and m which with the hinge, the yoke and the bell 20 are in an open electric circuit which when closed, causes the sounding of the bell.

To adapt the yoke to close the electric circuit when moved either up or down indepcndently of the hinge, it is fitted with the contact pins n shown in Figs. 2 and 3, which pins when the yoke is either raised or lowered by a grip through the medium of the controller rope 5, are brought into electric contact with either one or other of the spring plates is and m and. the electric circuit closed and the bell sounded.

Should it be required to lock the elevator platform at a certain floor, the operator as soon as the floor is reached, throws the yoke 14 over the hand grip of the controller rope, when movement of the said rope sufficient to start the elevator in either an up or a down direction is prevented by the grip coming into, contact with either the upper or the lower forks of the yoke, and the platform cannotbe again set in motion until the yoke is thrown back into its original position.

Should a person on another floor wish to use the elevator, he will pull the controller rope either up or down as the case may require, when the locked grip will move sufficiently to close the electric circuit by one of the contact pins striking the adjacent spring plate, and the signal bell will sound. By this signal he will know that the platform is in use, or at any rate cannot;

1 controller rope and a hand grip thereon, of

be moved at that time.

It is expected that the operator having no further use for the platform, and about to, leave it, will throw the yoke out of com-5' mission, when the platform may be raised or lowered by pulling the controller rope at any floor of the building.

I claim as my invention:

1. A safety attachment for an elevator, which consists in the combination with the controller rope and a hand grip thereon, of a hand-operated hinged forked yoke adapted to be thrown over and brought into the path of the grip, and a bell-sounding apparatus operated by movement of the controller rope independently of the yoke, in either an up: ward or a downward direction, substantially as specified.

2. A safety attachment for an elevator, which consists in the combination with the controller rope of the elevator and a grip thereon, of a hinge and a yoke attached to the hinge susceptible to a limited vertical movement independently thereof and adapted to be thrown over and brought into the path vof the grip, electric contact points on the yoke, electric contact plates on the hinge, and a bell or gong, the whole being in an open electric circuit which upon being closed by the movement of the yoke independently of the hinge causes the bell or gong to sound, substantially as specified.

3. A safety attachment for an elevator, which consists inthe combination with the controller rope of the elevator and a grip thereon, of a hinge, a yoke attached to the hinge susceptible to a limited vertical movement independently thereof and adapted to be thrown over the said grip, electric contact points on the yoke, spring electric contact plates on the hinge, and a bell or gong, the whole being in an open electric circuit which upon being closed by the movement of the yoke independently of the hinge causes the hell or gong to sound, substantially as specified.

4. A safety attachment for an elevator, which consists in the combination with the a hinge, a spring-held yoke attached to the hinge, adapted to have a limited vertical movement independently thereof and to be thrown over the said grip, electric contact points on the yoke and the hinge, and a signal device, the whole being in an open electric circuit which when closed by the movement-of the yoke independently of the hinge, causes the sounding of the signal, substantially as specified.

5. In combination with the wall of the casing of an elevator opening or shaft, an elevator platform, and a controller rope with a grip thereon adjacent to the platform, a hinge secured to the said wall, a hand-operated yoke pivoted to the hinge and adapted to be thrown around the grip to prevent a movement thereof sufiicientto cause the starting of the platform, combined with an electrical signaling apparatus which is brought into action by an upward or a downward motion of the controller rope independently of the hinge, substantially as specified.

JOHN A. BUTKUS. Vitnesses JULIA B. ROBINSON, SARAH SoHoT'rA.

.Gepiep of this patent may be obtained 01 five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

'Washingtom'D. C. 

